BSOD 395 (SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR): causes and diagnosis

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR

Could be also:
Constant	Type	OS
ERROR_CLOUD_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED	Win32 error	Windows

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SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR

SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR is bug check 0x18B. Microsoft defines the condition narrowly: the secure kernel encountered a fatal error. The published parameter table marks arguments 1, 2, 3, and 4 as reserved, so none of them has a portable public meaning as a failure subtype, address, or NTSTATUS.

Respect the boundary of the public contract

The secure kernel is part of Windows virtualization-based security architecture, but 0x18B does not state that a particular VBS feature, credential component, or hypervisor setting failed. Diagnose the specific system from the dump, Windows build, firmware state, and other evidence rather than decoding reserved fields.

What to retain

Preserve the complete dump and all four raw arguments for same-build comparisons.
Use !analyze -v with matching symbols and inspect the failure path available to the debugger.
Record VBS/security configuration and firmware changes as context, but do not call them the root cause until the dump or reproducible change isolates them.

References

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